Google is planning to restore some of the features in multiple products that it was bound to remove after Sonos’ patent infringement case.
What was the case about? Sonos had claimed that Google had imitated its patented technology to be used in speakers, and incorporated the same in Google Nest products, Google Home, and Pixel products. It also claimed that Google force-sells its products at subsidized rates and uses the products to collect data from users. Some of the infringing Google products include Chromecast, Chromecast Ultra, Nest Hub, Nest Mini, Nest Hub Max, Nest Wifi Point, Pixelbook laptop, Pixel Slate, and Pixel phones.
This decision for restoration was taken after Google’s victory in the federal court in the case about the restrictions imposed on the speaker groups.
In the company’s Nest community blog, it wrote that certain changes were implied to speaker groups for the Nest speakers, Chromecast, and displays, which limited that in the Google Home app, some devices could only belong to one group of speakers at a time. Based on the recent verdict, it was decided that this change will be undone, and devices will be able to belong to more than one speaker group. Trying to add a device to an additional group will not display an error message.
In this tug-of-war between these two tech giants, it is the customers who have suffered the most. This decision has been beneficial for owners of the products that were affected in the case; however, Google Assistant is still not available in some of the recent smart speakers of Sonos. Alongside Google’s boisterous victory, it has also accused Sonos of wasting time and resources by conducting a misleading campaign against them.
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